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Shadowkat
INTRODUCTION MW's premier character. A biracial aromantic antihero and founder of the Emissaries of Justice. ESSENTIAL INFO Created and owned by Matthew Werner. Designed by Benjamin Delabays. CREATIVE TEAM FOR ARC 1, "BURNING DOWN" Creator/plotter/co-writer: Matthew Werner Co-writer: Jake Smolenski Penciler: Benjamin Delabays? Inker: Matthew Seaborne? Colorist: set yet Letterer: Lucas Gattoni Back-up story #1 writer: be announced! Back-up story #1 penciler: Samrat Das Back-up story #1 inker: Matthew Seaborne Back-up story #2 writer/artist: Sambhav Sankhla Back-up story #3 writer: Matthew Werner Back-up story #3 artist: set yet Back-up story #4 writer: Jake Smolenski Back-up story #4 artist: Matt R. Back-up story #4 inker: Eric Kent Prose short story writers: Matthew Werner, Jake Smolenski, P.D. Loupee Cover artists: Luis Figueiredo, Myk Emmshin Layug, Luke Horsman, Sambhav Sankhla, Kyle Perry, Matthew Werner BIOGRAPHY Zack was always interested in becoming a superhero--ever since he was a kid. He wanted to be like his father, former vigilante, Shuriko, and save lives. Despite being called naive for his ambitions for years by his family (who really just wanted to deter him from becoming a vigilante, not wanting him to subject himself to the atrocities some people commit that he'd run into), Zack eventually became the new Shuriko. After a month of humiliating failures, bringing disrespect to his father's mantle, Zack rechristened himself "Shadowkat", and produced the first Shadowkat armors, as well as his Shock Bow as he was already a very skilled archer. At this time, Zack was still in his superhero infancy, and had yet to become the stern, tough as nails badass he is today and still believed in giving known murderers another chance at life. After months of horrible case after horrible case, however, he became disillusioned and quit superheroing for a time, until he saw his brother Earl's success at halting crime in broad daylight, and decided to make a pact with his brother. Zack would take nights and Earl would take days. Shadowkat fought in secrecy. He was nothing more than a legend, most crime families said--until they had been shot in the head by a shock arrow and been lobotomized. His legend grew, and after he took down the biggest crime family in the world, the Falducci's, he became something of a celebrity. POWERS, GEAR, & ABILITIES He wears a charcoal black, indestructible suit that has many powers and attachments. It gives him super strength, super speed, superhuman durability and endurance, superhuman senses, enhanced jumping, speed siphon, and superhuman dexterity. It is capable of taking 30-50 hits from a planet-buster. It has two C4 launchers that fire C4 packs the size of gum on his wrists. The C4 is highly explosive, due to some tinkering, making it have a huge bang. He also has rocket boots that allow him to fly in short bursts (but he can't feather it. Once he runs out of use with it, then it's out for hours). These are primarily used to extend his jumping--if he needs to, say, reach a bar that's out of his jumping reach, he'll fire his boots and be able to grasp it. More unorthodox, Shadowkat can use these boots as a quick close-quarters weapon, discharging a blast to fry someone alive. He also has a jet-pack, but it is just like the rocket boots in that it will eventually run out, though it tends to last much longer and is more consistent. The jet-pack is primarily used for more extended flights, as it can last up to five consecutive minutes at a time, though it isn't as mobile nor fast as the boots are, and is highly impractical as a weapon, unlike the boots. He has used many weapons (all of which he is very skilled with) from bolas to guns to swords to knives to axes to explosives to bows and crossbows. His main weapon used to be the Shock Bow, a bow loaded with electric arrows capable of stunning or lobotomizing foes. His new weapon is called the "Telescoping Sword" which is indestructible, cuts through anything, and can fire energy blasts that cut through anything. The Telescoping Sword is one of the strongest weapons on the planet, let alone pieces of tech. It harnesses kinetic energy in an orb towards the end of the blade, and the more Shadowkat swings it, moves it, et cetera, the stronger his energy blasts are. With it in tow, Shadowkat has slain thugs, monsters, demons, robots, and much more, and done so with style and power, thanks to the Telescoping Sword. Zack also has retractable, bowl-shaped claws on his hands, which are strong enough to tear titanium doors apart. They are often times used more as a utility to tear open walls and such, rather than a weapon, though they can be used in close-quarters combat if need be. His largest strength is his tech. He has made many suits and weapons that are formidable, even among the standards in his world. There are the aforementioned jet-pack, armor, rocket boots, C4 launcher, Telescoping Sword, Shock Bow, claws, but there are also laser swords, anti gravitational discs, and more. Zack is a genius inventor, designing and creating almost everything from his weapons to his armor to his gadgetry, and so on. He's also an excellent mechanic and can work with his hands very well. He's been known to take things apart to rearrange it, and due to his excellent muscle memory, he could then rearrange it blind with no problem. He is also a master hacker and computer programmer, having mastered it too in no time. To say he's a fast learner would be an understatement. His suit's speed siphon allows him to always be one step ahead of his opponent. The faster the opponent hits him, the quicker his suit absorbs their speed and this grants him temporary speed boosts that once he runs out of, goes back to their original user (if they are still alive). If not, this speed is given off as heat, which can reach hundreds of degrees. Also, if he decides not to use the speed siphoned in boosts, he can discharge it as heat upon a whim. A year or so after he took down the Falducci family empire, Zack began exhibiting superhuman abilities, outside of his suit. This is theorized to either have been developed during a fight against either Head-Splitter, who can pass superpowers to anything he touches, or the Augmenter, who can give superpowers to anyone. Zack's powers include limited superhuman strength, limited superhuman durability (he's now bulletproof), superhuman stamina, and limited superhuman speed (he's almost capable of reaching sonic speeds). MORALS, PSYCHE, & PERSONALITY Shadowkat is pretty paranoid. He purposely made his jet-pack and rocket boots have incredibly limited flight, as he doesn't want to depend on one piece of tech. He only uses his Telescoping Sword when necessary with this same logic in mind. He's more than willing to kill, though he only kills those he finds irredeemable or need to die (he's been known to mercy kill). He keeps supervillains alive because they bolster the Emissaries of Justice's ranks during fights with universe busters and such, but regular thugs are not so lucky. He's been known to tear heads off, rip appendages off, torture until the thug is maimed nigh completely, and has gone on murderous rampages killing hundreds of baddies in a single night. Shadowkat is well versed in psychology, having studied much in the field as a cover to learn more about the human mind so he can more easily identify what people are thinking and sometimes to tell if they are "good" or "bad". Zack's mind processes at a speed few other humans can muster, and thus, his actions tend to seem foreign, pointless, and/or inhumane to us, but in his mind everything he does has a purpose behind it. However, he sometimes over analyzes, since a lot of his mind spends time analyzing everything to see if it's a threat, a possible benefit, or to foretell events. Shadowkat is an atheist and a secular Humanist. Like most (if not all) atheists, he does not discriminate against theists (much to the chagrin of certain idiotic right wing radio hosts (like Glenn Beck) and pastors (like John Hagee)), and respects them. He focuses on humanity, and has no interest in being clerical. In his words, "I don't have time enough to speak to your imaginary friends." Despite his distant nature and seemingly alien thought processes, Zack will slow down if his family is in danger or hypnotized or something of the sort. Zack is not perfect--he's no paragon of virtue. He has his flaws, such as the fact he commonly over-analyzes situations. He often times jumps to conclusions based upon little evidence or knowledge, considering his Sherlockian intellect and decisive skills. Sometimes he'll take lives based only upon wild assumptions, and rarely does he regret doing so, even if it does backfire. His argument is that he can't rewrite the past and he lives in the present as that's all he really can do, which does objectively have some validity. RELATIONSHIPS Zack is very close to his family (as explained above). Through some alternate universe nonsense, Shadowkat is technically the brother to fellow Emissary of Justice, Edge the Samurai. The two know each other well due to their shared time in the Goblin Dimension, and respect one another. In a fight, the two synchronize almost perfectly, which is a similar case to when Shadowkat and Sensei Earl fight alongside one another. Though Zack has found good company in some women, he has decided against romancing while being a vigilante, not because he doesn't want to put them in harm's way (more on this in the next paragraph), but because he's already devoted himself to his path, and both a hypothetical relationship and his duty as a superhero would collide too much. Shadowkat would not care if his identity was revealed to the public as there isn't much a super villain or such could do to exploit him. To attack him at his place of business would be to face him head on in his element and he can handle himself in a fight. They can't attack Sensei Earl as he's able to blitz through bullets and is the most skilled martial artist to ever breathe. They can't exploit his parents as his father could still beat them fairly easily (he was a vigilante himself in his prime, as mentioned previously, and Earl has taught him many styles of fighting), and his mother is always at his father's side (and his mother is also skilled in combat). He doesn't exactly do romance (as explained before), but if they did he could just place his supposed love interest into Emissaries of Justice care or in one of his many safe houses. If Zack ever needed to expose who he is to do something he deemed necessary, he could with zero regrets. Shadowkat is a founding member of the Emissaries of Justice, and is considered by many to be its leader, despite the team having no such rank. He is, however, a chairman and has massive oversight (not control) when it comes to recruits, policies, declaring war, kicking members out, disbanding, and so on. He is commonly a mentor to EoJ recruits and, when not on duty, is known to train members of Verge as well as his own protégés, which include Earthshake, Bulldog, Heartlink, Matches, Cooper, and Volition. He is known to have primarily platonic relationships with his trainees, usually not acting like a father or friend figure, though this is not always the case. Shadowkat is also a reserve member of the Roman Legion, joining it as a way to build a closer bridge between the Emissaries and the Legion's leader, Julius Caesar. He's also joined the Knights of the Round Table (which is code-named Camelot Conglomerate) also as a favor to its leader, King Arthur, though he is much more active in KotRT than the Legion. PERSONAL OPINION AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION Shadowkat, at first, is not a hero in his eyes. Sure, he saved lives and fought villains, but he never truly tried to inspire people to do better, which is what he always thought heroes should be--inspirations and icons. But as public opinion of him grows more and more, he begins to warm up to the idea of being more and more of a hero. When heroics become more and more common, Zack begins to take it as a true "full time job", and walks the streets in broad daylight inside his armor and becomes an even bigger public face. Eventually, (in universe) movies, cartoons, TV shows, documentaries, songs, and more are made in his name, despite him never cosigning any of them. He never lets the fame go to his head, and uses it more as a spear to quell crime before people grow into it. His PSA's include lines such as "Don't go out and massacre people or I'll shoot you in your face". However, there will always be his dissenters for every disciple. Many argue that he's nothing more than a by the numbers, soulless machine with no heart to have the right to decide who lives and dies. Many solely insist that his brutal nature shouldn't be rewarded with anything but solitary confinement or life in prison. Others find his "heroics" to be nothing more than publicity stunts to heighten his public image and make more money off of merchandising. Still, others find his overall "in your face" nature to be even more appalling, as not everyone wants to see him beheading people on live broadcast or knocking in his "do what needs to be done" narrative into the minds of the nation. Others think it should be up to cops, despite the fact that the police force fully backs him, not only on the field in raids and the like, but also backing him publicly. Naturally, some argue that the police force has been paid off to make him look good, and doesn't truly believe his narrative is in the right. FOILS VEGA Leader of the Court of Superiors and one of the most dangerous men on the planet. He's a mastermind with a 10th level intellect, superhuman enhancements, masterful skill in all weaponry, and a master tactician and leader. THE REAPER A brutal assassin and master mimicker. Shadowkat has constantly come to blows with him whether it be stopping the Reaper from assassinating someone or the Reaper has just come to kill him. The two are polar opposites and every fight between them is something of a dance. BADASS A vigilante who has constantly butt heads with Shadowkat. Not only are they averse to one another because of their completely different moralities and ethics, but both of them plain hate one another on a personal level. While both can put aside this ire if necessary, this hatred has gotten the better of both on more than one occasion, leading to brutal fights. (fan art by Misunderstudios) ROGUES GALLERY Windshield-Wiper Man, Soldier Forsaken, Telekyo, Emil, Agent Albatross, Sibre, Impala, Loanshark, Necrotos, Flex, Shortfall, On-Point, Craftsman, Panzer, Pentaman, X, Cyclone, Skull & Bones, Pointdexter, Convict, Leather Jacket, Fortuitus, Sweet Tooth, Parasol, Cumshot, The Wraith, Snakebite, Transhuman, Vega, The Reaper, Blink, Stupor, Vortex, Hunter Preyes, Beoman, Gunmetal, Armageddon & Apocalyptic, Camereye, Scavenger, Gunner, Z, Shade, Doctor Evile, The Ox, The Devil Dynamo, Xenon II, Shakey Speare II, Tapout, Proxim, Javelin, Triggerman, Plug, Shadow Spear, Venom Miss, Villain, Henchman, Pockket, Rico, Gun Master, Mask, White Wolf, SpineClaw, Hornet, Mind-Warp, Mechaman, 47th Bang, Condor, Hell 2 Pay, Grandor, Dirge, Silent Scimitar, Phantom Claw, Bobcat, Grambal, Coyote, Stampede, Frostbite, Lotus, Acidex, Trajectory, Momentum, KillHammer, Ebony Turbo, King Midas, The Lacerator, Mason Blackwell, Outsider, Desperado, Komodo, Ado, Screech, Grid, Aaron Bradshaw, Lynx, Head-Splitter, Slitthroat, Stonewall, Gallows, The Augmenter, Keratin, Gravebuster, Dusk-Lurker, Malice, Jack Blazer, Armory, Slate, Wayde, Guillotine, Oblit. STORIES SEE ALSO SpiderMind Sensei Earl Marlon Baptiste Giles Cory Slagtand Koa Caliburn Pharasite Greymalkin Bulldog Robin Hood CONCEPT ART